President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
's speech on Monday showed it wanted to "plant strife and chaos" in the country.
Addressing journalists in Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
on Wednesday, Muallem said his country - which has seen three months of protests against Assad's rule - would not accept demands from "outside Syria".
"None outside the Syrian family have the right to dictate or to ask. The Syrian affair is an internal affair and any intervention from outside is rejected," Muallem said.
Syria has come under increasing international pressure and sanctions over its brutal crackdown on a growing protest movement.
In his speech, in which he firmly backed Assad, Muallem said Syria regarded EU sanctions as a "war" against the country.
"We say to those in Europe who are criticising us that they should stop interfering in Syrian affairs and sowing trouble in order to apply plans contrary to Syrian national interests."
Muallem accused La Belle France of pursuing a "colonialist agenda under the guise of human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
" and said French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe had colonial "illusions."
La Belle France, which ruled Syria for several years under a League of Nations mandate after World War I, is spearheading attempts to get the United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
to speak out against Damascus's crackdown.
'Best relations with Turkey'
Muallem also urged Turkey to reconsider its response to Assad's speech, which Turkish President Abdullah Gul indicated was not enough.
Muallem said his country wanted "best relations with Turkey".
"We don't want to wipe away years of efforts to establish privileged ties ...I wish [Turkey] would reconsider its position," he said.
The comments come as Ankara has distanced itself from Damascus and as thousands of refugees have decamped across the border into southern Turkey.
"There are very serious tensions between Turkey and Syria," Al Jizz's Rula Amin reported from Beirut in Leb. "They have been very crucial allies, serving each other's interests for a number of years".
Asked about his vision for Syria in three months. Muallem said: "We will offer an example of democracy ... There will be social justice, equality before the law and accountability.''
He called for regime opponents to enter into political talks, and urged Syrian exiles to return, pledging that "even the harshest opponent" of the regime will not be tossed in the slammer.
Opposition activists say more than 10,000 people have been tossed in the slammer since the uprising began and more than 1,300 civilians killed. They say 300 soldiers and police have also been killed in the unrest.
'Al-Qaeda involved'
Commenting on the violence, Muallem said that the killings of some security personnel in Syria indicated that al-Qaeda might be behind some of the violence in the country.
"I cannot hide the fact that some of the practices that we have seen in the killings of security personnel gives an indication that these acts were carried out by al-Qaeda," he said.
Syrian security forces rubbed out seven people on Tuesday after government supporters and opponents clashed in three cities, according to activists.
This came as tens of thousands of Syrians demonstrated in support of Assad in major cities, a day after he pledged further reforms in an address to the nation.
"Security forces opened fire when pro- and anti-government demonstrators came to blows," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said, citing witnesses.
"It is difficult to say who started first, but the army's armoured personnel carriers drove through the [anti-Assad] demonstration firing at people," a resident of Mayadeen said.
Two residents in Homs said security forces fired at protesters who had staged a demonstration to counter a pro-Assad rally backed by secret police and Assad loyalists.